THE IMPLICATIONS OF REPUTATION MANAGEMENT IN TERMS OF EMPLOYER BRANDING

July 13, 2016

They are special! And unique. Thanks to their skills, visions and attitudes. And more.

They walk in and out of your company and you seriously care about them because they affect your bottom line, right? But not only for that. Together, you create life experiences that make a
difference for them. When that happens, they talk about you and your company. Yes, current and former employees blather about how you make or made them feel. Together with customers, they build a major part of your reputation! You just facilitate and offer them the means to do so.

In this obvious context we aim to shift attention from customers to employees and to come up with a new perspective ­ that of using Best in Test (this friendly, online, authentic reviews tool) internally, so that you could assess and improve employee satisfaction. Talented people in the right place are, indeed, a crucial enabler of corporate success. But where do you find the right people? Well, you have two main capacity pools to choose from ­ a global and a local one.

The Global Talent Flow

Overview

The 2007 financial crisis had a disproportionate effect in different parts of the world. It had shaken down economic powers and registered a serious hit in the developing countries’ capacity to further generate jobs. This phenomenon steeped skills shortages in such a way that it forced an artificial but intensive labor circulation flow. Later on, in a healthier manner, globalization and a decrease in transportation costs supported the trend, as well. For the purpose of covering the mentioned gaps, governments had to strategize on improving national reputation in order to attract the right talent. Consequently, imported human capital had become a valuable bolster for international competitivity. For instance, Australia has this already popular legislative initiative ­ the 457 visa category ­ that allows businesses to sponsor and nominate foreign workers.

Companies, on the other hand, are less influenced by country reputation but depend more on their customers’ global awareness. Naturally, labor pool inflow is directly proportionate with a positive reputation and in an indirect relationship with a negative one. For example, (as Graves C. finds in his 2010 “Designing a distinctive national brand. In South Korea: Finding its place on the world stage” study) Samsung and LG giants are well known for their products ­which has helped them a lot with recruiting from local talent pools, but the companies tend to think they’re somewhat disadvantaged by the fact that international talent tends to think they’re originated in Japan when, in fact, they’re South Korean firms.

The economic climate of a country determines its inhabitants to leave or stay, usually because they’re determined to improve life standards and search for better opportunities. In the past few years, people have been more eager to engage in “two­way traffic”, which is the migration of skills on a longer term, but still temporary.

BiT and the franchises

BiT has developed a feature that also allows franchisees to assess customer satisfaction in each of their work points. Afterward, you can compare committees’ performance and determine best uniformization and growth strategies.

But this article depicts how you can use BiT internally to evaluate employee satisfaction . Staff members, just as customers, can go through the same type of short and effective, mobile app based surveys that you monitor and manage in order to improve HR systems efficacy and organizational culture.

This way you can determine franchise behavior, have an overview regarding your entire organization and enable GCPs exchange.

Local Talent

What does your reputation count for?

We have come to believe that reputation is actually of more interest to companies than talent. Taking into account that organizational reputation is not the primary factor when people choose jobs to apply to, your notoriety stands as a credibility standard. If your prestige shouts loud, you become more attractive as a potential employer and they seem to trust you more.

What is talent really interested in?

According to their BACKGROUND, people are interested in different aspects of a job.

Coming from an artistic background, for instance, might give you focus on the relational aspects of the job, whereas, a more practical experience could emphasize facets related to remuneration and prestige.

In their “How much does a company’s reputation matter in recruiting?” study, MIT Sloan Management Review have studied just that. When assessing organizational reputation locally, they show, talent are taking into consideration three main dimensions:

Corporate Reputation ­- The company’s respect in the local B2B environment

Workplace Reputation -­ Are you known as a good employer or not?

Social Responsibility Reputation ­- The degree to which your company is also involved in sustainability issues.

Going even further with their analysis, MIT Sloan Management Review notes that MBA and medical workers , after satisfying work­life balance conditions, they concentrate more on corporate and less on social reputation. Legal workers seem to be tempted by workplace conditions and social responsibility, whereas, manual, less skilled workers take very little interest in any of the three dimensions but are concerned strictly with income.

CAREER ADVANCEMENT is another detail to factor in when determining what aspect of your reputation prospective employees take into account when weighing you over other offers.

In their research “The Cost of a Bad Reputation ­ The Impacts of Corporate Reputation on Talent Acquisition”, CR Magazine & Alexander Mann Solutions point out that reputation and professional experience are linked directly. The more mature the worker, the more important the reputation. Out of the 18 ­ 34 age span, 82% of young workers have very little interest in where they work. Also, both age and reputation have to do with retention rates. As expected, young employees have much more willingness to leave companies, but positive reputation might make them stay.
In connection to the other study mentioned, CR Magazine highlights GENDER differences, as well. Females are more inclined to go for companies involved with CSR or environmental issues.

How does BiT actually MANAGE your reputation?

BiT is a reputational MANAGEMENT tool. At this point, the rising question is how, exactly, does BiT manage your reputation among your employees?

Internally

Well, the tool could gather information and feedback on internal structures and procedures, newly developed product or services and overall performance. Employees can review all aspects or testify about their experiences with any of the categories mentioned above.

Consequently, after interpreting results, you can keep on or change your practices. So, not only could it replace your Performance Appraisal system, but it could also help Product Development.

Even more, with BiT’s help, you could address negative comments directly. The application has a feature that allows you to discuss on the negative reviews before making and implementing a new idea.

Externally

Sketch an internal picture of your company and then communicate it to your talent pool. That’s how BiT can help attract the right talent for your company. Our testimonial gathering feature helps you tailor job stories for each talent pool you target. Moreover, by promoting who is more satisfied to be working in your organization (through complex, detailed reviews that you can post on Facebook and your own site at the same time) you will appeal and connect to the people who best resonate with that environment.

In the end, whether you choose to use the tool strictly to manage your reputation amongst clients or you try it internally, as well, is up to your own need or want. But how useful is such a versatile tool to your own business? We dare you to try BiT and see for yourself… then, write us a review.

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